South County
We’ve compiled the best of the best in South County - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in South County - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
With generally moderate surf, this 42-acre beach has stunning views of where the Narragansett Bay empties into the ocean—although the scent of the neighboring wastewater treatment plant can mar the experience. There's a concrete boardwalk with gazebos and an observation tower. A grassy section on the southern end of the beach is good for kite flying and picnicking, and a trail connects it to Black Point, a scenic fishing and hiking area along the rocky coastline. RIPTA buses service the beach, making it the easiest to access by transit. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: surfing; swimming; walking; windsurfing.
Originally the site of a trading post established by Roger Williams, founder of the Rhode Island colony, the Smith's Castle grounds include a marked mass grave where 40 colonists killed in the Great Swamp battle of 1675 are buried. The land just outside Wickford village was part of a large plantation during the 18th century, spanning more than 3,000 acres worked by tenant farmers and—yes, even in Rhode Island—enslaved people and indentured laborers; later, it became a large dairy farm. Saved from the wrecking ball by preservationists in 1948, the beautifully preserved saltbox home—one of the country's oldest plantation houses—appears much as it did in 1740. Docents in period costume provide interpretive tours of the house several times a day, Friday through Sunday from May to mid-October.
On part of Rhode Island's Civil War-era governor William Sprague's 19th-century estate, now a town park, this museum founded in 1933 holds 25,000 artifacts dating from pre-European settlement to the mid-20th century. Six exhibit buildings include a print shop, a blacksmith forge, a carpentry shop, and a carriage barn. A living-history farm has Romney sheep, Nubian goats, and a heritage flock of Rhode Island Red chickens, the state bird. Attending the annual chick-hatching is an Independence Day tradition for local families.
The ⅓-mile-long town beach—with a playground, a boardwalk, a volleyball court, and picnic tables—cannot be seen from the road and doesn't fill as quickly as the nearby state beaches. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking.
Rhode Island's first and only museum devoted to Native history and culture contains crafts, historical items, and photos related primarily to the Narragansett, Niantic, Wampanoag, and other southeastern New England tribes.
A tiny museum at this 1856 lighthouse contains the original Fresnel light, letters and journals from lighthouse keepers, documentation of famous local shipwrecks, and photographs of the hurricane of 1938 and 19th- and early-20th-century sailing vessels off Watch Hill. Parking is for the handicapped and senior citizens only; everyone else must walk down the peninsula along a private road off Larkin Road.
The library, in the heart of downtown Westerly, also serves neighboring Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The library's Hoxie Gallery holds art exhibitions. Adjacent to the library, Wilcox Park, a 14½-acre Victorian strolling park designed in 1898 by Warren Manning—an associate of Frederick Law Olmsted, co-creator of New York's Central Park—has a pond, a meadow, an arboretum, a perennials garden, sculptures, fountains, and monuments. The Runaway Bunny, a sculpture inspired by the children's book of the same name, is popular with the little ones. A garden market, arts festivals, concerts, and Shakespeare-in-the-park productions are held periodically.
Dating to 1709, Wickford began as a fishing village, later a modestly busy port, and today retains its colonial charms with street after street lined with preserved buildings dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, including a number of sea captain's homes. One of the oldest Episcopal churches in America, the circa 1707 Old Narragansett Church, was originally located about five miles away but moved to Wickford in 1800. Wickford Harbor is a popular haven for pleasure boaters, and the calm waters also attract kayakers and standup paddleboarders. Fresh fish can still be bought off the town dock at the end of Main Street, and a pair of petit bridges over tidal coves help define the pleasantly walkable shopping area on Brown Street. Several walking trails access undeveloped areas on the outskirts of town, and the town beach is a short walk or bike ride south along scenic route 1A. Wickford hosts Daffodil Days in the spring, the Wickford Art Festival in July, Wicked Week Halloween festivities late October, and the Festival of Lights in December.
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